Snapshots of a Small Town Life
by Firebird9
Summary: Sequel to Writing on a Blank Slate and Familiar Strangers. As her eldest daughter prepares to leave for college Sara Stokes sorts through her photographs and reminisces about her life since she left Las Vegas.
1. Chapter 1

**Snapshots of a Small-Town Life**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own CSI. Also, Bridgewater and Greyston County are fictional locations and the original characters that inhabit them are also fictional. Any resemblance they may bear to actual places is purely coincidental (and please don't ask me what state they're in: I haven't the foggiest!).

**Rating:** K

**Author's note:** As promised, this fic is written as a sequel to Writing on a Blank Slate and Familiar Strangers. More a collection of short 'snapshots' strung together (hence the title) than a single continuous fic, it's an attempt to fill in some of the blanks in the story of Nick and Sara's life together. At the moment it's written from Sara's POV, but that may change, as it's still very much a work in progress. Please R&R!

**Chapter 1**

Sara Stokes carefully placed the box that she was carrying on the kitchen table. It had been a long time since she'd sorted through its contents but she was determined to prepare a photo album for Rose before she left for college at the end of the summer. And, while she was at it, she thought, she might as well start albums for the other children as well.

It was just before 10am on a bright summer's morning, and she had set aside a whole day for her task. Rose and JJ were both off at their summer jobs, and Abby was at a friend's house. Only Jenny was around, probably reading in the tree-house, knowing her. Of all their children, Jenny was the most like Sara, bookish and a little shy, and Sara smiled fondly at the thought of her youngest daughter.

She shook her head, amused at herself. The first photograph wasn't even out of the box, and she was already daydreaming. She folded back the flaps and reached for the first envelope.

Although most of the photos Sara had taken of her family over the years were stored in this box this was no haphazard arrangement. Sara always sorted through every set of prints as soon as she picked them up, placing a careful selection of the best shots in the photo albums that lined one whole shelf in the living-room, labeling the others, and then returning them to their envelope to be filed in date order in the photo box as neatly as any card-index system.

Friends teased her about not going digital, but Sara simply smiled and ignored their comments. Nick had a digital camera, but Nick wasn't the family photographer, and Sara knew that she could never explain to anyone exactly what the photographs meant to her.

Photography was, for her, a series of rituals: lining up her family for a formal shot, or randomly snapping a scene before the participants were aware of the camera; collecting the processed prints from the pharmacy; sorting through them and smiling again at the memories they evoked; and finally placing them in the box or the album, to form a chronicle of her family's life that could be explored time and again.

All this was something that she had never experienced until she had married Nick, and so her photographs were more than mere printed images. They were a tangible reminder of a lasting happiness that she had never dared hope that she would possess.

All of which was not something that could be easily explained to another person, and even the kids thought her obsession with family photos was, in their words, 'weird'. Only Nick seemed to understand, as he seemed to understand everything about her, even the things that were never said out loud.

And so it was that she was able to draw an envelope from near the front of her collection and know without a doubt that it would contain the photos from when she and Nick first arrived in Bridgewater.

She looked at the first photo and smiled.

"Oh yes. I remember this…"


	2. Chapter 2

**Snapshots of a Small-Town Life**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own CSI. Also, Bridgewater and Greyston County are fictional locations and the original characters that inhabit them are also fictional. Any resemblance they may bear to actual places is purely coincidental.

**Rating:** K

**Chapter 2**

It was a picture of their house, not as it was now, nicely painted with neatly-cut grass and a well-tended flowerbed, but as it had looked on the day she first saw it, faded and shabby with peeling paint and a tangle of knee-high weeds and grass for a yard.

The vehicle that stood in front of it was not her red saloon, nor Nick's sheriff's pick-up, but a battered blue station-wagon. Sara felt a wave of nostalgia at the sight of that car. It had carried the two of them faithfully across thousands of miles, away from the life in Las Vegas that now seemed like a distant dream, all the way to Canada.

And then it had carried them right across Canada, through friendship, to love, to marriage, and finally to their new life in Bridgewater.

It had finally died for good about a year after their arrival, but looking at the photograph she could almost smell the upholstery and feel the cracked steering-wheel beneath her hands.

And she remembered…

"Can I help you?" the woman behind the desk in Bridgewater's only real-estate agency asked with a smile.

Sara smiled back. "I hope so. My husband's just started work with the sheriff's department, and we're looking for a house."

"Of course." The agent waved her to a seat, and Sara was relieved to take it. Whatever else it might mean, being pregnant was sheer hard work.

The agent suggested four vacant properties that were within their price-range, taking into account the generous financial support that Nick's parents had insisted they accept. There had been several others on the market but currently occupied, and it was, Sara thought, a mark of small-town trust that the agent simply gave her the keys to the vacant properties and directions on how to reach them and suggested that she look around in her own time.

She had made a mental note to make changing the locks a priority once they had found a house of their own.

The first property didn't impress her: it was too dark and there was a suspicious smell of damp. The second looked eerily like the rental in which her mother had stabbed her father to death. She didn't even stop the car.

The third house was a fifteen-minute drive from downtown Bridgewater, and she almost didn't bother, but it was a nice day and she figured that it wouldn't hurt to see some more of the town, so she checked her map and set off.

And she drove into the rolling hills that surrounded the town centre the houses became more spaced out and interspersed with trees. At last she turned up the driveway of the vacant property.

She knew as soon as she saw it that this was it. For a while she just sat and stared, but then she went exploring. It was everything she had ever dreamed of: a large yard surrounded by trees with one large, spreading tree at the side of the house that could support a swing or a tree-house, or both, a large kitchen, in need of a clean but perfectly serviceable, five bedrooms, including a roomy master bedroom, a bathroom and second half-bath with toilet, sink and shower, and a living-room with a large picture window looking down the driveway towards the road.

A few repairs were needed – the screen door was ripped, half the windows seemed to be jammed shut or, in one case, partially open, and a couple of boards on the verandah were missing – not to mention a thorough clean and a coat of paint, but she knew in her heart that this was going to be their new home.

Before she left, she got out her camera and took a photograph.


	3. Chapter 3

**Snapshots of a Small-Town Life**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own CSI. Also, Bridgewater and Greyston County are fictional locations and the original characters that inhabit them are also fictional. Any resemblance they may bear to actual places is purely coincidental.

**Rating:** K

**Chapter 3**

The second photo showed their neighbor and trusted babysitter, Cassie Marlin, a solidly-built woman already in her early fifties when the photograph was taken, who had been the first person to welcome them into their new home…

"Knock knock."

"Who's there?" Sara called back, her head still in the oven she was trying to clean of what seemed to be decades of baked-on food, a process not helped by the fact that she didn't dare risk terrible birth-defects in her baby by exposing herself to oven-cleaner fumes.

"It's your new neighbor," came the reply. The voice was coming closer, and Sara realized that the speaker had let herself in through the open front door.

She withdrew her head from the oven and stood up.

"I just thought I'd pop in and introduce myself." At this point the stranger reached the kitchen. She was carrying a casserole dish, which she set down on the second-hand kitchen table in order to extend her hand to Sara. "Cassie Marlin," she smiled. "It's nice to meet you."

"Uh, same here," Sara managed. "I'm Sara Stokes."

The name still felt slightly strange on her tongue, but she didn't stumble over it as she had at first.

"Well, Sara, I won't stay long. I know how hectic moving can be. I just wanted to introduce myself and drop off the pie. It's tuna-fish: hope you like it." She continued in her cheerful manner without waiting for a reply, a habit which was to be come familiar to the Stokes' over many years of friendship. "I brought you a card as well. My number's on it, so if you need anything just give me a call. And I hope you and your husband can join me for dinner one night this week."

"I… that would be great," Sara replied, trying to remember whether, in five years in Las Vegas, she had ever exchanged more than a dozen words with any of her neighbors, let alone had dinner with one.

"Well, I won't keep you. Give me a call to let me know what night would be best. And don't work too hard."

And with that she had breezed out again, as she would do many times in the years to come.


	4. Chapter 4

**Snapshots of a Small-Town Life**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own CSI. Also, Bridgewater and Greyston County are fictional locations and the original characters that inhabitthem are also fictional. Any resemblance they may bear to actual places is purely coincidental.

**Rating:** K

**Chapter 4**

The next photo showed Nick in his brand-new deputy's uniform standing beside a marked pick-up truck with the sheriff and two other deputies. It was a chance conversation that they had overheard between the other three in the local diner which had led to Nick's new career.

Looking at them now, Sara could remember that day as though it were only yesterday…

The waitress poured more coffee into Nick's cup as Sara sipped on her decaf. At the next table, three uniformed individuals – a grey-haired sheriff and two younger deputies –were talking, and they couldn't help but overhear the conversation.

"Well boy, how does it feel to know this is your last week on the job?" the sheriff asked in an avuncular tone. The youngest of the three, a clean-shaven young man in his twenties, smiled.

"Pretty good, actually. I'll miss you all, but it's one heck of an opportunity."

"Our little Stevie, off to the Bright Lights of the Big City," the second deputy, a woman in her thirties, remarked. "Remember us when you're busy busting all those crack hos and meth addicts."

"Gee Mel, you paint such an encouraging picture."

The woman smiled. "Can I help it if I think you're better off staying in sleepy ole' Greyston County?"

Stevie laughed. "You're just upset because you'll have to make your own coffee from now on."

"Well, deputies don't grow on trees, you know," the sheriff remarked. "It's been almost two months since we started looking for a replacement for you, and so far not a peep."

"Yeah, whatever happened to that guy from Atlanta?" Mel asked.

"Let's just say he'd been written up a few too many times for excessive use of force. Not the sort of thing we need around here."

"And the one from Denver?"

"I think the time he spent here for the interview made him realize just how small this town is. He withdrew his application."

At the next table, Nick and Sara exchanged a significant look. Nick leaned towards her.

"How would you feel about being married to a deputy sheriff?" he asked in a low voice.

"I think you'd look sexy in that uniform," she whispered back. He grinned and rose.

"Excuse me?" he asked, approaching their table. "I couldn't help overhearing that you might be looking for a new deputy."


	5. Chapter 5

**Snapshots of a Small-Town Life**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own CSI. Also, Bridgewater and Greyston County are fictional locations and the original characters that inhabit them are also fictional. Any resemblance they may bear to actual places is purely coincidental.

**Rating:** K

**Chapter 5**

Sara continued flipping through her photographs, smiling at the sight of herself in ever-larger maternity clothes, nodding proudly at more shots of their new home, taken as she began to create tidiness and order out of the chaos. There were shots of Greg on his first visit, sleeveless t-shirt, torn-off jeans and spiky blond hair as he helped her with projects she couldn't manage in her gravid state. And there was Nick.

Nick in uniform, Nick working in the garden, Nick laughing with a beer in his hand, Nick asleep in the armchair, looking, she thought, almost unbelievably cute. Even after almost twenty years of marriage the sight of him could still make her heart skip a beat.

And then there was the first photo of Rose…

Sara lay back in the hospital bed and closed her eyes. Dimly she was aware that Nick was stroking her hair, telling her that he was so proud of her, that she was so brave, unbelievably amazing, incredibly wonderful.

She felt unbelievably exhausted and incredibly sore.

The baby was off somewhere being cleaned up. She knew because the doctor had told them that it was a girl, and healthy, but she was too tired to really process the information.

She heard footsteps approaching the bed and then a soft voice spoke.

"Mr. Stokes, if you could help your wife sit up, the baby's ready for her first feed."

Sara opened her eyes and, with Nick's supporting arm about her shoulders, eased herself into a sitting position. She had heard that a woman's body was supposed to secrete endorphins during and immediately after birth that helped ease the pain, and decided that that had to have been written by a man.

Then the nurse gently placed a tiny, blanket-wrapped bundle in her arms. She felt a surge of nervousness as she gingerly accepted her infant daughter. Almost afraid, and not sure why, she peered into the baby's face.

Misty brown eyes stared back at her, and Sara felt her tiredness dissolve in a rush of love, a love more intense than anything she had ever felt before. She gathered her child close to her breast. In that instant she knew that she would do anything – anything at all – for this precious little bundle, that she would die for her if that was what it would take to protect her from the evils of the world.

For the first time in her life she caught a glimpse of what might have motivated her mother to commit murder, because she couldn't imagine ever letting her daughter go, but the thought was fleeting, swept away in the emotion of the moment.

She realised that she was crying and, looking up at Nick, saw that she wasn't the only one.

"She's so perfect," she whispered.

"Yeah," Nick agreed. "Yeah, she is."

The baby mewled and turned her head, nuzzling her mother's breast, and Sara laughed through her tears.

"I think she's hungry," she managed, fumbling one-handed at the buttons on her nightdress.

Nick helped her, and they both watched in wonder as their first daughter took her first feed.

"Get the camera," Sara told him softly.


	6. Chapter 6

**Snapshots of a Small-Town Life**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own CSI. Also, Bridgewater and Greyston County are fictional locations and the original characters that inhabit them are also fictional. Any resemblance they may bear to actual places is purely coincidental.

**Rating:** K

**Chapter 6**

"Mom, why are you crying?" Jenny asked, and Sara gave a shaky laugh.

"I was looking at pictures of your sister when she was born. I was so happy that day."

Jenny poured herself a glass of water, then wandered over to her mother's side and looked down at the photo in her hands.

"She's all red and wrinkly," she observed disparagingly.

"Yeah," Sara agreed. "So were you and JJ."

"But not Abby?"

"No," Sara's face clouded briefly. "Abby got her umbilical cord caught around her neck. It almost strangled her and when she was born she was all blue and limp."

"But she was okay, wasn't she?" Jenny asked anxiously, although she had seen her sister at breakfast not three hours earlier. Sara smiled again.

"Yeah, she was fine. The doctor was wonderful; she sorted her right out."

She set a photo of baby Rose aside for Rose's album, returned the others to the envelope and put the envelope back in the box.

"Let's see." She drew out the next envelope.

"That's Granny and Grampa Stokes!" Jenny exclaimed excitedly.

"Yeah," Sara told her. "They came to visit just after Rose was born…"

"… Now don't you worry about a thing," Jillian Stokes told her newest daughter-in-law. "You just relax and let us take care of you."

Sara felt a surge of affection for this woman, who hadn't even been invited to their wedding, and vowed never to laugh at another mother-in-law joke again.

Jillian, aided by Cassie Marlin and,for the first few days, by her husband until he had to head back to Texas for work, had been as good as her word, and had taken care of everything during the first couple of weeks after the birth, gradually handing control back to Sara until she was ready to take full responsibility for her newly-expanded family. At which point, Jillian had discreetly departed for Texas with a promise to return at once should she be needed.


	7. Chapter 7

**Snapshots of a Small-Town Life**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own CSI. Also, Bridgewater and Greyston County are fictional locations and the original characters that inhabit them are also fictional. Any resemblance they may bear to actual places is purely coincidental.

**Rating:** K

**Chapter 7**

"And this is your sister's first Christmas," Sara told Jenny, moving on to another envelope.

"That's when Dad gave you your camera, right?" Jenny asked. "Your real camera," she added, "not the one you use for everyday."

Sara smiled.

"Yeah. That's when your dad gave me the camera I use for my professional shots," she agreed, referring to the hobby that had developed into a second job.

For the last fifteen years her shots of the plants, animals and scenery around Greyston County had been on sale in local tourist shops, and for almost a decade she had taken the yearly photographs at Bridgewater West Elementary. She also did the occasional wedding andthe graduation photos at Bridgewater High, and a few of her shots of local events had made the local paper.

It wasn't exactly a steady job, but it was fun and brought in a little extra money, which was always useful when you were trying to raise four kids on one-and-a-half salaries.

She smiled at the Christmas photo…

The Christmas tree sparkled in the corner of the room. Nick and Sara had been determined to do a proper job of what they regarded as their first real Christmas – their first as a family as well as their first in their new home – and the tree was seven feet tall and beautifully decorated. The mantelpiece was trimmed, a bunch of mistletoe hung in the hall and there was a wreath on the door. There were also presents galore.

Nick was seated in an armchair, holding Rose, while Sara did the honours in the other chair.

"And what's this?" she asked her daughter. "Aww, it's a fluffy wabbit. Wabbit. A wabbit." She waved the toy at her daughter, who cooed in response. Nick chuckled.

"How about a present for Mommy now?" he suggested, nudging a square package towards her with his foot.

"Okay." She read the label. "To my darling Sara. With all my love at Christmas and always, Nick. Awww, honey," she swallowed the lump in her throat.

"C'mon sweetie, open it," Nick urged, and she chuckled. He was like a big kid sometimes, and his enthusiasm was infectious.

She peeled back the wrapping paper, savouring the experience. She had already taken a bunch of photos that morning, determined to record every moment of this day.

"A camera!" she exclaimed in delight.

This wasn't just any camera, this was a professional job complete with extra lenses and a large detachable flash, like the camera she had used to document crime-scenes back in Vegas.

"There's film too," Nick told her. "Go ahead and try it out."

"It must have cost a fortune," she protested.

"It's second-hand," he admitted. "But it still works fine: I checked it out myself."

"But we don't have a darkroom."

"Sure we do," he smiled. "It's down in the basement. I finished it days ago."

"I thought you were building cupboards?"

He chuckled. "And you used to call yourself a CSI." She threw a ball of screwed-up wrapping-paper at him. "Hey! Father with a baby!" he protested.

"Oh, you!"

She stood up and raised the camera. For a moment she experienced an irrational fear that, when she looked through it, she would see her perfect family Christmas turned into a scene of bloody carnage, but she blinked the thought away and put her eye to the viewfinder.

Nick smiled and lifted Rosie to face the camera.

"Wave to Mommy," he told her.

Sara smiled back and took the photo.


	8. Chapter 8

**Snapshots of a Small-Town Life**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own CSI. Also, Bridgewater and Greyston County are fictional locations and the original characters that inhabit them are also fictional. Any resemblance they may bear to actual places is purely coincidental.

**Rating:** K

**A/N:** Hope you enjoy this because I'm going to be on a posting hiatus for the next two weeks or sowhile I visit Mexico City and return home to my beautiful New Zealand.

**Chapter 8**

Jenny was interested now, leaning over her mother's shoulder to look at the pictures as she brought them out.

"Let's see the next one!" she insisted.

And there was Nick, holding a squirming black Labrador puppy.

"Aww, there's Bruno," Sara said, her eyes misting for a second time at the memory of their first dog, who had died of old age two years earlier. She would never have pictured herself as a dog person back in the old days, but that was then.

"Your dad was so disappointed," she recalled. "He'd got me that lovely camera, and he thought all I'd gotten him was a pair of gloves…"

"These are great, honey," Nick told her, failing utterly to hide his disappointment. They were, after all, nice gloves: sturdy leather thickly lined with wool.

"Well, I thought they might come in handy with the rest of your present." She smiled at the way his eyes lit up.

"There's more?" he asked, once again reminding her of an eager little boy.

"Sure," she grinned. "It's in the garage."

He all but bolted from the room, and she followed more slowly, pausing to collect a warm blanket for Rosie, who she had been holding whilst her father took his turn under the tree.

By the time she reached the garage, Nick was already fussing over the puppy, which was licking his face, its stubby tail set to wag itself off with excitement.

"Do you like him?" she asked, and he looked up at her, eyes sparkling.

"Like him? Darlin' he's perfect. How did you know?"

She shrugged. "You did mention a couple of times that we should get a dog, and you always struck me as a 'dog' person. I figured Labradors are supposed to be good with kids, so he'd be a good choice."

"He is," Nick agreed at once. "What's his name?"

"That's up to you," she told him. "He's your dog – which means you're the one who gets to walk him and clean up after him."

Her husband laughed. "Sure, Mom."

"So, what are you gonna call him?"

"Hmmm, let's see. My credibility as a deputy is at stake here."

He had already suffered one blow to his masculine image because he refused to go deer-hunting, a favourite pastime for many of Bridgewater's male residents, his years in Las Vegas having left him permanently unable to see any sport in killing.

"What about 'Killer'?" he suggested.

"No!" Sara laughed, knowing that he was teasing.

"Okay. Tiger?"

"Tiger? He's a dog, Nick."

"Hmm. Bruno?"

"Bruno?" she tried it out. "Yeah, that's pretty good."

"Okay then, Bruno it is."

Bruno continued to wag his little tail joyfully.


	9. Chapter 9

**Snapshots of a Small-Town Life**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own CSI. Also, Bridgewater and Greyston County are fictional locations and the original characters that inhabit them are also fictional. Any resemblance they may bear to actual places is purely coincidental.

**Author Note:** Yes, I finally got around to writing some more. Go me!

**Rating:** K

Chapter 9 

With Jenny at her side, Sara skimmed through the photos a little more quickly, setting aside a shot of Rose's first birthday for the album, and another shot of Nick and the baby in the bath. She remembered how Nick had laughed as she attempted to line up a discreet angle, telling her that she just wanted to photograph him naked. What she had actually been trying to do, of course, was to record an innocent scene that she knew could not be repeated once Rosie was a little older.

"JJ!" Jenny shouted as they reached the next set of pictures of a newborn. JJ and Jenny were especially close, JJ the protective older brother to Jenny's adoring little sister. "Does it hurt to have a baby?" she asked.

"Yes," Sara replied honestly. "And with your brother I had terrible morning sickness too. It was pretty hard on daddy and Rosie. I guess it's true that it's worse with boys. But it's worth it." She smiled at her daughter, then at the photos of her second child, her only son. "It's worth every moment of it."

"Where am I?" Jenny asked, suddenly diving into the box.

"Jenny!"

"Don't worry mom, I won't mix them up."

Sara nodded, knowing that this was true. The other children might mess up her filing system, albeit unintentionally – there was no malice in any of her children, just irrepressible high spirits and boundless energy – but Jenny was careful when it came to that kind of thing.

The first photo in the envelope her daughter had chosen showed seven-year-old JJ with his arm in a cast.

"What happened to JJ?" Jenny wanted to know.

"He broke his arm," Sara replied, stating the obvious. "You were only a baby…"

She was in the kitchen drying dishes when she heard the crash. She rolled her eyes at the sound.

"Kids!" she yelled. It was almost the end of summer vacation, and she was counting the days until school restarted and she would finally get some peace. A moment later a white-faced Rose appeared in the doorway.

"Mom, JJ fell off the roof."

Sara's blood ran cold. She dropped the dishcloth she had been using onto the sideboard. "Where?" was all she said. Not that she needed to be told. As soon as she stepped outside the house she could hear Abby wailing and raced towards the sound.

JJ was sitting crumpled in a flowerbed, looking even paler than his sisters. At least he was conscious, she thought, as she dropped to her knees beside him.

"I'm okay mom," he managed, trying to be brave even through his tears. His left arm was on a strange angle, definitely broken.

"You've broken your arm," she informed him, surprised at how calm she sounded.

"I know," he agreed. A small spark of annoyance made itself felt through her concern.

"Nicholas James Stokes Junior, what did I tell you about not climbing on the roof?" she asked.

"You only said not to climb on the school roof," he replied plaintively. "Do I get to have a cast?" The thought seemed to please him.

She sighed, her anger melting away as swiftly as it had flared. "Rosie, get your sisters into the car. Yes JJ," she told him in a gentler tone, "you will most definitely get to have a cast."

He sniffed, then gave another brave smile. "Cool."


	10. Chapter 10

**Snapshots of a Small-Town Life**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own CSI or the movie 'Supersize Me', which is briefly referred to. Also, Bridgewater and Greyston County are fictional locations and the original characters that inhabit them are also fictional. Any resemblance they may bear to actual places is purely coincidental. The recipe is mine and actually works really well. You can also make it with a bit of chilli instead of the herbs.

**Rating:** K

Chapter 10 

Jenny took one last look, then put the photo back in its envelope.

"I never knew JJ broke his arm." She sounded almost offended.

"Well pumpkin, that's what happens when you're the youngest. All kinds of things happen before you're born that you never find out about until later. That's why photos are such a good idea." Jenny still didn't look convinced, and Sara smiled. "Look at it this way. Rose goes off to college at the end of summer, and after that all kinds of stuff is going to happen here and she won't even know about it."

"Yeah, but you'll email her."

"Only about the really important stuff. You'll see: she'll come home and be asking all kinds of questions: when did Abby start dating, when did you cut your hair, when did we paint the living-room. She'll be totally lost."

In spite of herself, Jenny smiled a little. "No she won't."

"You'll see. If you don't believe me, then talk to your dad; he's the youngest in his family, and he has six older brothers and sisters."

Jenny's smile widened at that: she had obviously forgotten that she wasn't the only youngest child in her family.

Sara turned back to the box. "Let's see if we can find some photos of you, huh?"

"Yes." Jenny sounded pleased at that.

"Hmmmm." Sara leafed through an envelope. "Oh, here we go. This is you, me and Abby making cookies."

"Let me see. Awww, I'm so cute." She was indeed cute, about four years old, standing on a stool to reach the table and dressed in an apron far too large for her.

"You know, when I met your dad I didn't even know how to cook."

"Really?" Jenny couldn't quite believe this. She knew some dads couldn't cook – her best friend's dad was like that, he burned everything – but her mom could do anything, even stuff other moms couldn't do, like fixing car engines.

"Really," Sara told her. "I remember your dad trying to teach me…"

"C'mon Sara, you have to learn sometime."

Nick was standing in their now-clean kitchen, trying to convince her to let him teach her how to make a mixed-vegetable pasta sauce.

"But you're such a great cook honey." She smiled sweetly at him. "You don't need me butting in."

"Oh? And I suppose you think I'm gonna be fixing dinner for us every night for the rest of our lives?" he teased.

"Of course not. But there's always pizza, takeout… you know, all that good stuff."

"We are not raising our children on a diet of takeout," he told her. "Didn't yousee Supersize Me?"

"Hey, let's get the first one born before we start talking about 'children', plural," she suggested, although they both wanted a large family. Nick because he had had a happy childhood with numerous siblings, and Sara because she had had an unhappy one without them.

"Whatever, and don't change the subject." She stuck her tongue out at that. "Look," he tried, changing tactics, "I don't see what you're so worried about. Cooking is just like chemistry."

"Really?" she replied, sceptical, but interested in spite of herself.

"Sure. It's a question of learning the properties of the different elements involved, understanding the variables – like how one chilli pepper can be hotter than another – and then exploring the different ways of combining them to achieve the desired result."

"Oh?"

"Yeah." He was enthusiastic now, warming to his theme. "Like this dish. A good base for pasta sauces is tomato and onion. Then we add zucchini and red pepper. Mushrooms are good too, but we don't have any. A little salt – not too much – and vegetable stock to draw out the flavour, and garlic, oregano and basil. Here," he had been chopping as he spoke, "have a sniff of the herbs. Then we can taste as we go along to make sure we get it right. That way you'll get a better idea of how they all go together."

"Chemistry you can eat? You know, I kinda like that idea."


	11. Chapter 11

**Snapshots of a Small-Town Life**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own CSI. Also, Bridgewater and Greyston County are fictional locations and the original characters that inhabit them are also fictional. Any resemblance they may bear to actual places is purely coincidental.

**Rating:** K

Chapter 11 

Jenny's good humour seemed to have been restored by her mother's story, and she dove into the box again.

"A birthday party!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah," Sara agreed, examining the photo, "your first birthday, if I'm not mistaken. Aww, you were so cute!"

Jenny did indeed look adorable in a little pink dress and matching head-band, and Sara smiled at the memory of her youngest baby's birthday…

She sat by her youngest daughter's high-chair. Abby was sitting on her other side and Rose and JJ, who had been playing outside, had returned at the promise of cake.

"Here we are," Cassie Marlin sang out as she walked out of the kitchen and into the dining room where they were gathered carrying the cake, which was topped with a single large candle. "All together now."

A chorus of 'Happy Birthday To You' went up as she walked over and placed the cake on the table in front of Sara and Jenny. The other children gathered around eagerly.

"Okay," Sara told them. "No, on three, I want you all to help Jenny blow out her candle. Are you ready?"

They all leaned in as Sara began to count. As she got to 'three' a camera flash went off twice in quick succession. She looked up to see Nick holding the camera and smiling.

"I couldn't resist," he explained.


	12. Chapter 12

**Snapshots of a Small-Town Life**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own CSI. Also, Bridgewater and Greyston County are fictional locations and the original characters that inhabit them are also fictional. Any resemblance they may bear to actual places is purely coincidental.

**Rating:** K

Chapter 12 

"Who's this?" Jenny asked, continuing to skim through the envelope.

"Let me see. Oh, that's Gil Grissom. He was my boss, a long time ago. Your dad's, too. He came to visit once, when you were little." A sad smile crossed her face. "He's dead now."

"How did he die?"

"It was an accident."

This wasn't strictly true, but Grissom's death wasn't something she wanted to discuss, especially with her ten-year-old daughter.

"I was in love with him," she heard herself say instead.

"Really?"

"Yes. That was before I met your dad, of course." Well, kind of.

"Why didn't you marry him?"

"Because he wasn't in love with me."

Jenny frowned in concern at the slight sadness on her mother's face.Then she brightened. "Well, it's just as well," she said firmly. "If you'd of married him you wouldn't have married dad, and I kinda like him."

Sara laughed in spite of herself. "I'm sure he'd be relieved to hear you say that."

But even so, she retrieved envelope and photograph from her daughter's hands and pulled out another instead.


	13. Chapter 13

**Snapshots of a Small-Town Life**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own CSI. Also, Bridgewater and Greyston County are fictional locations and the original characters that inhabit them are also fictional. Any resemblance they may bear to actual places is purely coincidental.

**Rating:** K

Chapter 13 

"Here's us on a picnic," Sara said, showing her daughter the photo she had selected more or less at random to shift the conversation safely away from Grissom.

"Mmm. You know, I'm kinda hungry," Jenny responded.

Sara looked at the clock and almost did a double-take.

"I'm not surprised," she replied. "It's lunchtime already. What do you want?"

"I don't know. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich?"

"Okay, PB&J it is."

"Mom, could you really not cook when you married dad?"

"Yes, I really could not cook. And I didn't eat meat, either."

Jenny looked puzzled. "You didn't eat meat? Why not?"

"Well, we had to do this experiment once, back when I was a scientist," she explained. "Without going into detail, it involved a dead pig and it was really gross. For a long time after that, anytime I went to eat meat I'd just see that pig and feel sick. So I became a vegetarian."

"What made you stop? Dad?"

Sara grinned. "Yep. You know how your dad likes to make those huge cooked breakfasts?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, he was doing that one morning not long after we moved here, and I walked into the kitchen and the bacon smelled so good I just had to have some." She smiled at the memory. "He teased me about it for weeks afterwards."

Jenny giggled. "Yeah, dad's such a tease."

"That he is." Sara set a plate of the sandwiches she had been preparing in front of her daughter and sat down with one of her own.

"Mom, are there any pictures from back when you and dad were scientists?"

Sara thought about it. "Um, I don't think so. Not in this box anyway. There's an album in the living-room that has some though. The first one on the shelf. I think it's brown."

Jenny ran off to get it, taking a sandwich with her. Sara hoped she wouldn't get the album sticky: it was Nick's, not hers, although he would have said it was theirs.

Jenny returned, with the album somehow unscathed. Sara flipped through it until she found a group shot taken not long before Ecklie split up the night shift.

"There's Mr. Grayson," Jenny observed, pointing but mercifully not touching.

"Grissom," her mother corrected automatically. "Actually, he was a doctor, but a science doctor not a medical doctor."

"And there's Uncle Greg. Why is his hair blue?"

Sara shrugged. "Who knows. He was always doing crazy stuff to his hair."

"Is that how come he's bald now?"

The thought made her laugh. Of all the old team, Greg – now married with kids of his own – was the only one she and Nick still saw on at least an annual basis, although they wrote and emailed Catherine and Warrick as well. It was Catherine who had called to tell them that Grissom was dead. Sara supposed that it was a sign of just how badly her relationship with her former mentor had deteriorated over the years that her kids called Greg 'Uncle' but couldn't even remember Grissom's name let alone recognise him in a photo.

"Who are the other people?" Jenny wanted to know.

"That's Warrick Brown, and the lady is Catherine Willows. You remember her, don't you? She visited us a couple of years ago."

"Oh yeah. She looks so different in the photo. You all do."

Sara laughed again. "Well, we were all about twenty years younger back then."

The thought made her sober. Had it really been that long? It seemed like only yesterday that she and Nick had made the decision that had changed their lives.

"Mom?"

"Huh?"

"Can we look at some more pictures of us now?"

She smiled at her daughter, one of the fruits of that decision. "Sure we can honey."


	14. Chapter 14

**Snapshots of a Small-Town Life**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own CSI. Also, Bridgewater and Greyston County are fictional locations and the original characters that inhabit them are also fictional. Any resemblance they may bear to actual places is purely coincidental.

**Rating:** K

Chapter 14 

Jenny licked her finger and used it to mop up the last crumbs of her sandwich. Having ensured that not a scrap was wasted she reached for the photos.

"Uh-uh. Wash your hands first young lady," Sara told her firmly.

"Aww, mom!" Exasperated by the parental obsession with cleanliness Jenny picked up both plates and walked over to the sink.

"Be grateful I don't make you wear latex gloves," Sara retorted, memories of her lab days still foremost in her mind.

"What?" Rose asked, stopping on the threshold as the back door swung shut behind her, having heard only the final phrase in their exchange. "Nevermind. Mom, you are so weird sometimes."

"Mm-hum. I'm your mother: that's my job. You're home early."

Rose shrugged. "They decided to close the pool early so they could clean it, which, by the way, they should have done weeks ago" – Rose had a summer job as a lifeguard at the local swimming pool – "so they sent us home early." She draped herself affectionately over her mother's shoulders. "Whatcha doin'?"

"Looking at old photos." Jenny sidled up to her mother and leaned against her side, reluctant to share the rare luxury of one-on-one quality time.

"Cool." Rose stopped leaning on Sara and took a seat at the table. Jenny also sat down, scooting in closer to their mother.

"Do you want to choose the next envelope Rose?" she offered. "She can, can't she mom?"

Sara smiled, knowing that with the two of them there her filing system was destined to disintegrate into chaos. "Sure, no problem."

"Cool." Rose smiled brightly. "I pick… this one."


	15. Chapter 15

**Snapshots of a Small-Town Life**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own CSI. Also, Bridgewater and Greyston County are fictional locations and the original characters that inhabit them are also fictional. Any resemblance they may bear to actual places is purely coincidental.

**Rating:** K

**Author's note:** Once again, I apologise for the update delays: I'm once again without regular computer access.

Chapter 15 

"O-kay, why's Abby wearing a funny dress?" Jenny asked.

"Oh, I remember that," Rose replied. "She was Wendy in her school's production of 'Peter Pan', right mom?"

Sara grinned. "She sure was, and she was so proud you wouldn't believe it."

People often commented on how pleased her parents must be that Abby had inherited her mother's artistic talent but, whereas Sara viewed photography as a technical challenge as much as an artistic endeavour, Abigail Stokes was a born _artiste_ – complete with an artistic temperament at times.

Like all of the Stokes children she was academically bright, but her report card consistently showed C's, alleviated by the occasional B, in maths and science. When asked why this was so she merely shrugged and stated dismissively that they were "boring" and, as she always brought home straight A's in English, art and drama, Nick and Sara were willing to let it go on the basis that you can lead a horse to water but you can't make a teenager take trigonometry seriously.

Abby was also the most attractive of their brood, having inherited her father's straight black hair and winsome smile and her mother's fair skin and slender figure, and the boys were already starting to show a definite interest in her. So far, the fact that she was the sheriff's daughter and the high school star quarterback's younger sister had been sufficiently intimidating that none of them had actually dared to ask her out, but Sara knew from their experience with Rose that this wasn't likely to last.

Abby, however, dismissed the local boys as airily as she did her appalling record in maths and science, determined that she was going to make her mark on Broadway – "as a serious actress, not some Hollywood bimbo" she claimed grandly – and her mother had a sneaking suspicion that she just might do it.

Seeing the picture of her budding actress in the Wendy costume brought back vivid memories of her daughter's stage debut…

"Mommy, daddy, did you see me!" their excited daughter yelled as she raced from backstage, dark hair flying. It was the opening night of Bridgewater West Elementary's production of Peter Pan, and the entire family, including Jenny, who was now asleep in her mother's arms, had been there to watch their little star perform.

"Yeah I saw you!" Sara was grinning, delighted at the way her baby had stolen the show. Peter Pan and Captain Hook never had a chance.

"You were great, Pumpkin," Nick added, sweeping her up into his arms and kissing her forehead soundly.

"Da-ad!"

He set his little girl back on her feet and ruffled her hair. Rose gave JJ a not-very-subtle nudge in the ribs and he stepped forward bashfully.

"These are for you," he said, thrusting a bunch of pink, yellow and white daisies at his younger sister.

"Oh JJ, they're perfect!"

"It was dad's idea. He said you had to have flowers at your 'day blue'."

"That's 'debut', idiot," Rose, older and wiser, corrected. JJ opened his mouth to say something back, but Abby cut him off.

"So, what did you guys think?"

"It was okay," her brother admitted, although he had sat enthralled through the entire thing. Then he brightened. "The pirates were cool."

"Well I loved it," Rose said firmly.

"Good, 'cause I'm going to be a famous actress someday."

Nick chuckled. "Well, even famous actresses need their beauty sleep, so come on you lot."


	16. Chapter 16

**Snapshots of a Small-Town Life**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own CSI. Also, Bridgewater and Greyston County are fictional locations and the original characters that inhabit them are also fictional. Any resemblance they may bear to actual places is purely coincidental.

**Rating:** K

Chapter 16 

They were drawn from their discussion of Abby's acting ambitions by the sound of the screen door slamming and the artist herself calling "Mom, I'm home."

"Hi sweetie, we're in the kitchen," Sara called back, and heard Abby's footsteps approaching.

"What're you doing?" she asked curiously.

"Looking at photos," Jenny replied.

"What of?"

"Us."

"Oh? Let me see. Where am I?"

Sara suppressed a smile and Rose rolled her eyes with a grin. Abby was going to be some producer's nightmare someday.

"We were just looking at photos of you from when you were in Peter Pan," Sara told her.

"My stage debut," Abby sighed dramatically, then grinned. "And dad had JJ give me those lovely flowers. You know, I still have one stuck in the programme to remind me."

"Even back then you knew exactly what you wanted to do. You were a determined child. I remember when you decided that the low diving board at the pool was for babies - you must only have been about nine. In fact, I'll bet there's a photo of it in here somewhere…"

It was a hot July day. All the kids were irritable and Sara wasn't faring much better. Even Nick's famously even temper seemed a little shorter than usual.

"Nick, I have got to get out of this house or I'm gonna go nuts," she complained, having just returned from the living room where she had confiscated JJ's baseball and exiled boy, ball and Abby to the backyard to continue their game somewhere where they were less likely to break something expensive.

"I know darlin'," Nick, who had just run the gauntlet of his eldest and youngest daughters playing some kind of game involving a hose and two over-excited and very wet dogs in the backyard on his way into the house, agreed. "I don't know where they find the energy in this heat."

"Do you think we were ever like this?"

Nick chuckled. "Well, I'm sure you were the sweetest angel of a girl, but believe me, my family and I were worse."

"Well I guess I know where they get it from then." In spite of herself, Sara smiled.

"Why d'ya think I never introduced you to my family until _after_ I'd convinced you to marry me?" He hugged her, then sighed. "How about we take them to the pool?"

"Good idea." She kissed her husband's cheek, then turned to yell: "Kids! Get your stuff; we're going swimming! You know," she added in a quieter voice, slipping her arms about her husband's neck, "I'd have married you even if I'd met the whole lot of them first."

Two fights, one tantrum, one sulk and a threatened smack – undelivered; the kids knew when to stop pushing their luck – later they arrived at the pool, and that was when Abby announced that the low board was for babies.

Rose and JJ, who had themselves only ever braved the high board once each, on a dare, exchanged a worried look.

"No it isn't, Abby," Rose said anxiously. "Look, even me and JJ still go on the low board, and we're way older than you."

"I don't care. I'm going on the high board." And with that she stalked off determinedly.

"Nick…?" Sara asked. She was still holding two bags and keeping an eye on Jenny.

"I'm on it." He followed their daughter at a discreet distance and took up a post at the foot of the board, ready to dive in after her if she looked like she needed saving, or climb up and get her if she froze on the board.

Abby climbed up, up, eight or ten feet above the water, her parents and siblings watching anxiously from below. She walked out, and for a moment she did seem to freeze, but then she raised her chin determinedly, surveyed her audience, and dove.

She surfaced, beaming, to applause from her family and some of the other swimmers.

"That was awesome!" she declared. "I'm so doing it again."

"Just let me get my camera!" Sara called, rummaging furiously in her bag.


End file.
